Vivienne Westwood’s Granddaughter Wages War On The Brand: Why Cora Corré Is ‘deeply Unhappy’ With Label Over ‘homophobia’ And Saudi Plans

‘She always taught me to stand up for what is right and that will never waiver’, said Vivienne Westwood’s granddaughter after she came head-to-head with her grandmother’s fashion label earlier this year.

Only two years on from the death of the iconic designer who put punk on the map, defied establishment norms, and used her avant-garde designs to convey political messages, it seems the legacy of her brand is under threat.

The unlikely rival to the fashion house? Her granddaughter, 27-year-old Cora Corré, a model and activist who has taken repeated swipes at those left in charge, accusing them of ‘betraying’ her grandmother’s wishes.

It seems Cora has followed in Vivienne‘s politically minded footsteps and has held back nothing in blasting the brand for a string of offences.

With countless disputes between them, the battle to who should be the voice of Vivienne’s brand has been under scrutiny ever since she died.

On one hand, her widower, Andreas Kronthaler, who she was married for three decades, and the other, her granddaughter, Cora, who worked closely alongside her grandmother on the Foundation in the lead up to her passing.

Taking Vivienne’s lead, Cora has defended the political pillars of her brand, values that she held throughout her time as a designer and which can be traced back as far as her first and famous shop, Sex, at 430 King’s Road, in Chelsea.

She was a proprietor of social justice, taking up various political causes, memorably once urging fashion consumers to ‘shop less’, despite the mantra seemingly at odds with her own plight as a designer.

In the most recent row, Cora slammed the house for failing to ‘align with the values or wishes’ of the fashion pioneer after it announced it would headline Riyadh fashion week held in Saudi Arabia – despite Vivienne’s longstanding reputation as an activist for LGBT+ rights.

Directors, one of whom is Andreas Kronthaler, Vivienne’s third husband, defended the decision earlier this week, alongside fellow fashion house Stella McCartney, claiming it was a way to ‘a way to encourage dialogue’ and ‘build understanding’.

It insisted that it didn’t reflect endorsement of the Saudi regime, which prohibits same-sex relations, a political end to which Vivienne fought fervently for over the course of her life.

The show falls in the same week as the Vivienne Foundation, of which Cora is a co-founder, released its T-shirt range, with proceeds going in part to LGBTQ+ charities.

The T-shirts, which have been modelled by Kate Moss, feature Vivienne and Malcolm McLaren’s 1975 ‘tits’ design, the copyright of which was legally assigned to the foundation, along with all her pre 1992 work, to the foundation.

While the family does hold the rights to some of Vivienne’s designs, the current and ongoing evolution of the brand under new directors has come into stark contrast with what relatives claim are values true to her philosophy.

Speaking to the Guardian, Cora condemned the brand’s recent decision to go ahead with the Saudi show. ‘What I do feel confident in saying and knowing is that she would feel as if the company does not align with her values or wishes,’ she said.

Those words will hardly come as a surprise to those working for the fashion house.

In May this year, Cora called for the CEO of the fashion house to resign after she claimed he had said gay people couldn’t be trusted and called one employee a ‘fairy’ and ‘homo’.

She accused the company’s boss, Carlo d’Amario, of ‘bullying’, homophobia as well as betraying her ‘warrior’ grandmother’s legacy, accusations which he vehemently denied.

Cora argued that the company, which her grandmother used to challenge gender norms including through the historic 1975 ‘gay cowboys’ campaign, had done nothing to censure him.

‘Appalled no action has been taken on this matter. This behaviour was one of the reasons I felt compelled to leave Vivienne Westwood Ltd last year,’ she said at the time.

Carlo was accused of homophobic behaviour and bullying, allegedly saying once: ‘All these gay men in the company – you can’t trust them’.

Witnesses also accused of him of criticising shop displays for looking ‘too gay’ and often using homophobic nicknames for one gay employee nicknames such as ‘Mary Poppins’, ‘Mary Fairy’ and ‘Homo Pomo’.

The Italian designer, who was paid a reported £500,000 in 2023, denied all allegations and told a 2023 independent investigation where he said that sexuality was ‘the last thing in (his) brain’ and that language barriers may be behind any misunderstandings.

However, the investigators are said to have found his denials ‘not persuasive.’ Five allegations against him were upheld, according to The Guardian.

‘She always taught me to stand up for what is right and that will never waiver’, she said in defence of her grandmother’s legacy.

It followed months of aggro between the fashion brand and the foundation, with Cora heading claims that the designer’s heritage was being corrupted.

It was a belief so strongly held by her granddaughter that Cora resigned from her role as campaigns manager in October 2024, alleging that her grandmother’s wishes had been ‘betrayed and disrespected’.

In a letter sent to staff across the house, she said she was quitting and called for the removal of chief executive, Carlo, who joined the company in 1986, accusing him of ‘bullying’ Vivienne in her later years.

The email, seen by The Times, read that she was ‘deeply unhappy with the way the company was being run’, adding that she wished the company were ‘managed in a way that respected her values’.

It’s thought that Cora’s gripes stem from friction between the commercial imperatives of the label, and the Vivienne Westwood Foundation, a non-profit charity founded in 2019 with the mission of continuing to promote the designer’s values.

The foundation is managed by Vivienne’s surviving relatives, including Cora, who, according to Companies House, became a director in April 2024.

The mission is by no means small. Writing on it’s website, the foundation outlines it’s quest to ‘save the world’ by halting climate change, stopping war, defending human rights and protesting capitalism.

The latter is rather blatantly in conflict with the fashion label, which still bears its designers name, since its rival mission is to make money.

Garments bearing the Westwood name retail for hundreds, sometimes thousands of pounds, and are often found hanging from velvet hangers at Harrods and Harvey Nichols—a far cry from the anticapitalist creed.

‘Effectively Carlo is preventing (the foundation) raising money to support the charities Vivienne was so passionate about,’ her resignation email continued.

It also contested the foundation’s trademark, ‘preventing’ it from holding events or fundraising for causes Vivienne ‘passionately’ supported.

It was just the tip of the iceberg for the ongoing battle for the Vivienne Westwood name.

In another row in October 2024, the fashion brand was accused of ‘blatantly disregarding’ the late pioneer’s legacy after it joined forces with streetwear giant Palace to launch a collaborative collection, selling clothing and jewellery.

When collaborative pieces hit the market, they came with price tags that exceeded £1,000.

A statement at the time of the collection’s release explained it was ‘born from the subversive and political spirits’ shared by both brands, adding that it was ‘built upon respective house codes, with culture and humour at the heart of the designs.’

But the collaboration sparked controversy from the foundation, which claimed the he sell-out collection based its designs on Vivienne’s archive without consulting the foundation, showing a ‘blatant disregard’ for her ‘wishes’, ‘legacy’ and ‘foundation’.

In an Instagram post, the foundation wrote: ‘In the years before Vivienne died. She set up her Foundation which is a not-for-profit company dedicated to supporting all the charities, organisations and causes that Vivienne was so passionate about.

‘She was so excited about the opportunities that the Foundation could develop, and she took so much pleasure in developing her ideas and creations for it.’

Although all creative property had been transferred to the foundation before 1993, the collaboration featured designs from Vivienne’s archive without consulting the charity on the decision.

Garry Hogarth, the former chief executive of Agent Provocateur, the brand co-founded by Corré’s father, told The Telegraph that Vivienne’s desire was never about ‘just making money’, but reflected the way she lived her life more broadly.

Having known Cora since she was a child, he told the outlet that he believed she was doing ‘what she believed her grandmother wanted’, adding that it was ‘true to her’.

Dame Vivienne Westwood, the godmother of punk who changed the fashion world foreverdied at the age of 81 in 2022.

She was one of the most influential British fashion designers of the 20th century, cultivating the punk rock movement with her unapologetically political designs.

As the person who dressed the Sex Pistols, Dame Vivienne was synonymous with 1970s punk rock, a rebel spirit that stuck with her throughout her career including going commando when receiving her OBE from the Queen.